A super PAC is a type of political action committee (PAC) that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose federal candidates, but can’t give money directly to their campaigns. The Federal Election Commission (FEC), the agency that enforces federal campaign finance law, calls these groups “independent expenditure-only political committees.”
Super PACs began in 2010. That year, a federal appeals court ruled in SpeechNow.org v. FEC that limits on contributions to groups making only “independent expenditures” were unconstitutional.
